During the Super Bowl there was a trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie, and an extended version online. I don’t have a lot to say about it except that the “we have a Hulk” line is still cool and I wish the guy who designed Captain America’s costume for this flick was also working on the Superman movie. (No, I won’t get over how dark the colors are on that thing.) I suppose I could make a commentary around Fury saying “I still believe in heroes”, but that’s pretty much it.
Also released online is a trailer for the new Spider-Man movie. This has some new information about the film and is definitely worth a commentary.
If you want a detailed breakdown try IO9’s review. This is more about my thoughts.
There are a few things that bug me. No, not Gwen Frickin’ Stacy because it looks like they’re getting some good use out of the Stacys (who appear to have a few more kids for some reason). (Maybe we’ll get a Gwen I can get behind as a character.) I still don’t like the basketball appearance of the costume but it’s really only noticeable close-up. The real problem I have is this “untold story” stuff. Frankly, that’s usually defined as “frag what previous writers have done, this will be so darn kewl people will love me and my version more even though it counteracts (X) years of continuity and history. When you take over a property, whether it’s continuing or rebooting you need to at least respect what has come before. “Untold stories” tend to not do that. I don’t want to change the way I look at something….forever! This rarely works out when you contradict established facts for no good reason.
That said, I don’t really mind the darker tone. Spidey’s still throwing one-liners along with his webbing and frankly Andrew Garfield seems to have better delivery than Toby McGuire did. Spidey running from cops is also in-line with early Spider-Man and makes more sense than, say, the train scene in Spider-Man 2, where every single person swears to keep Spidey’s identity a secret. This wouldn’t happen in any continuity ever, much less the real world. The web-swinging looks good but I hope he breaks out a few of the more acrobatic moves of the Rami films and the original comics. The effects we saw for the Lizard looks good, but there isn’t really more to say about him from the trailer.
This may turn out to be a good Spidey movie and while I enjoyed Sam Rami’s version that doesn’t mean Marc Webb isn’t bringing anything good. I’d still rather have Mary Jane Watson and a more accurate Spidey symbol (this one kind of reminds me of the Spider-Man Unlimited symbol, but I am actually looking forward to this. Something I really wish I could say about Man of Steel given my preferences.
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